Monday, December 5 2005 11:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange Benchmark 30-share Index today (Dec 5,2005) turned volatile and fluctuated in a range of 83 points during morning trade even as Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) hogged the limelight ahead of its petition on demerger scheme being kept for hearing by the Bombay High Court later in the day.

RIL rallied sharply to a high of Rs 859.00 over previous close of 839.05 and was quoted at Rs 850.95 at around 10.30 am on hectic buying support, prompted by expectations of a favorable judgment on the demerger scheme.

The Sensex opened on a promising note at 8965.83 against Friday's close of 8961.61 and later fluctuated in a range of 9010.73 and 8927.84 before being quoted at 8975.82 at 10.30 am, up 14.21 points from the last close.

Brokers, however, expected profit booking by investors if the market moved upwards during the day.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) are the principal driving force behind the market. FIIs have pumped in over Rs 1,099 crore in the first four days of last week. Their inflows amounted to Rs 4,449 crore during November.

Key stocks like ACC, Cipla, Bajaj Auto, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Satyam Computers, ONGC, Maruti Udyog and some others were quoted up on fresh buying support.

However, HDFC, Infosys Tech and Larsen and Turbo (L&T) showed marked falls due to selling pressure.